Tips on successful change management projects

Change management programmes have struggled to be implemented successfully over the past couple of years.

The main issue, according to the chief executive officer of Bestoutcome David Walton, is that boards typically delegate responsibility for delivery of the programme, rather than staying involved directly.

Writing in Real Business, Mr Walton added projects usually have a "single overarching and clear business objective" at the outset, but this soon changes as issues with project management develop.

"These [problems] have conspired to drive an almost permanent wedge between the overall, original objective of any change programme and the project management process," he added.

Mr Walton thinks the whole change management process needs to be overhauled, as he believes the only way to be successful is to make sure people maintain a relationship with the original business objective at all times.

He would also like to see a hierarchy of milestones introduced, as this makes it easier for managers to see the impact of missing one project goal on the others.

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